This is a thread I love to start! And long overdue somewhat with this crazy late spring we have been having - at least here in Ohio.
I love to read about gardening plans, fails, tips and successes. About what you plant in your zone and any troubleshooting you do. If you plant in your yard, at a community garden, in a garden plot or in a raised bed.
I labeled this “vegetable” gardening - though a flower thread could be nice as well! (or incorporated here)
I have a raised bed at an organic based community garden. I also plant herbs at home on our deck and will put a few random small veggie plants interspersed in my flower beds…my yard doesn’t get lots of sun.
So far have only done some planting at the raised bed:
- garlic planted in fall is up and green - one of my favorite things to grow!
- planted radish, arugula, and beet seed about 10 days ago - I’d say at least 7 of those days since were cloudy or rain so as of two days ago, no seedlings yet.
- as a community garden group we all put in $2 and ordered a bunch of onion bulbs from an online company which I planted this past weekend - walla walla, red onion and cipollini.
- our master gardener also offered up some broccoli and kale plants so stuck in a couple of those and we will see how they do.
I’ll give all this stuff the month of may to take off…or be pulled before getting the typical summer plants. If it ever warms up I’ll start my herb garden at home.
COME ON SPRING!!
I got the potatoes planted yesterday! Finally - I usually like to turn the soil by April Fools’ Day and get them in first.
Beets and radishes went in too.
First round of Tomatoes and peppers are sprouting in seed starter pots under the grow light in the green house.
Meant to get peas and lettuce in last weekend but was travelling and ran out of steam when I got home.
I’m waffling on planting the peas since almost my whole crop last year got eaten by moles (or voles? or chipmunks?) and I don’t know how to protect against them. Fencing protects against bunnies and groundhogs…but how what do I do about burrowing critters? They waited till the pods were just about mature…and then had a feast. 
Ideas? Or should I just forget it. I already saw some moleholes in the garden as I was in there last weekend…
Super slow spring (northern CT) has pushed everything back. It’s always nice to start digging in the dirt!
I’d be happy to feed the critters critter-appropriate food as long as they would leave my plants alone!
So you must have a garden plot @JustaMom5465 - have you tried a chicken wire fence that is dug and placed a few inches deep in the soil around the garden??
It’s our first year with a plot in our organic community garden, located in Philadelphia (center city area). We just helped the prior elderly gardener move from our plot to a new plot. Since she did all container gardening, the plot needs a lot of work and we have had awful weather. Turning the soil and creating a narrow brick pathway to walk on and then planting. Still trying to figure out what to plant. I think at this point we have to skip the spring planting and move to summer stuff.
I’m focusing on peppers this year–lots of hots. My H bought seeds from New Mexico State Univ. We’ve started them in seed starter pots with a grow light and a heating mat. They’ve sprouted but I’m going to wait until after Memorial Day to put them outside (I’m in MA–40 miles northwest of Boston and it’s still possible to get temps in the 30s). Spring has been late in coming this year. I did notice that sorrel and chives are coming up in my herb beds.
Remember that some of the spring crops like radish and some greens can literally be ready to pick in 4-5 weeks! 
@Bromfield2 my garden neighbor planted a hot pepper last year - not sure what it was, not as big as a banana but not as small as a jalapeno…his plants EXPLODED with peppers! So.Many.PEPPERS!!! He ended up drying a bunch and was giving them at away at our fall potluck!
@amom2girls I’ve seen a lot of people take their plot as you describe put a pathway in the form of an “+” in it and then treat each of those 4 areas in the “+” like a square foot garden. They pack so much in there!
@abasket , during DH’s groundhog war a couple years ago he placed green rectangle fencing (I don’t know what it’s called, but it has small rectangles around 1" by 2")…in the ground, both vertically and horizontally - he was determined to keep the groundhogs out!! THEN we found out that the bunnies could somehow squeeze through the openings so he wrapped it with chicken wire. He referred to his fencing creation as “The Maginot Line”, lolol. The chicken wire isn’t sunk in the ground but I feel like a mole is small enough that it wouldn’t stop him…darn critters.
You’re right! I’d be more than happy to set out a critter buffet, if they’d just stick to THAT.
@asbasket I’ve got ghost peppers, carolina reaper, jalapeño, piquillo, and a few others. Total of 12 different types of peppers. Plan on experimenting with hot pepper jelly and also hot pepper sauces. I did grow hot peppers last year and made lots of sauces and jelly/jam and gave the away to friends. People seemed to really enjoy them.
I am saving all my milk jugs. Each tomato and purchased plant got a 7 inch or so collar around it from the milk jugs last season. Most grew just fine after they were protected, but the bunnies sure loved the eggplant.
This year, sugar snaps have gone into raised beds, and lettuce and spinach into the large plastic pots. They grow faster in pots as the soil wams better, plus avoid the rabbits. I transplant some to the larger garden later as it bolts slower in the ground. In the basement I just found the leek starts bought a few weeks ago. Snow kept them out of the ground. To be planted today after I contemplate where.
DH just came home with a used carpet runner he picked up from a neighbor who was remodeling, and hauling it out to the trash. My FIL taught us to cut used carpet runners in 1/2, and put the long strips in between the rows in the garden, to keep the weeds down.
I converted all 6 raised beds to woodchips (BTE-style) garden in January. I had 10 cubic yards of wood chips- they had to go somewhere! Anyway, it’s worm heaven out there right now. The chips haven’t broken down too much - next spring should be better - but this year I’m digging a hole to the dirt, adding in some compost and the plants and covering up to the seedlings with the chips.
The raspberry plants that I moved into the fenced garden area are loving it. All the herbs came back really full and early- I’m picking arugula every day as it overwintered just fine.
I have peas, chard, kale and leek starts in - all started in the basement under lights and slowly moved out. I start peas indoors because sometimes the spring is so wet that the seeds rot before sprouting.
My potatoes went in mid-March in a new (non-fenced) area where I just threw down some cardboard and wood chips. When planting the potatoes, I dug out a trench until I hit cardboard, removed enough for roots to make it through and filled the trench with a couple inches of compost, put in the potatoes and covered with 6” of chips. The potato plants are all up about 4” above the chips. Cardoons went in there too, again, started from seeds in the basement. Fennel seeds were sown out there last weekend along with a few sweet meat squash seeds- a bit early but heck it’s 85 today so why not! If they rot, I’ll just replant them. That entire area is full of things that deer don’t like.
All my tomatoes and peppers are in the basement still along with the Mexican sunflowers. It’ll be nice to have my basement shelving back. =))
Last weekend, I planted 30 Heirloom Tomatoes directly into the ground. Underneath the tomatoes I planted carrots, strawberries and basil. This type of planting is called companion planting and it really gives the tomatoes a growth boost.
We thought we would do a lot of vegetable gardening when we moved to San Diego but we discovered (1) the plants aren’t that fond of the marine air or city water and (2) the farmers markets are so prolific that you don’t really need to grow your own. Plus the soil needs a lot of additives - nothing like good Illinois dirt!
We do have a few herbs and heirloom tomatoes in pots. We also have three lemon trees and a fig tree, plus I just planted a Valencia orange tree.
We do have a profusion of year round flowers including roses, bougainvillea, several hibiscus, birds of paradise, one plumeria tree, cacti that are currently blooming, and a variety of other pots. DH knows what they are!
I love the farmer’s market and visit at least two a week - but I still love my own gardening as well!
So many great things growing in this thread! @missbwith2boys , what part of the country do you live? You have so much going on already!
My fava beans and peas are currently being attacked by rats and mice.I’ve tried traps, but they haven’t worked. Anybody have an idea how I can get rid of them ?
@JustaMom5465 - we surrounded our garden with what we called The Great Wall of Chickenwire. It kept the large bunnies out until they discovered how to hop over it. Gardening is war!!! This year, I am hoping to get some stuff going in pots on the deck. The garden area will be trampled over the contractor gorillas when they re-do the decking, so I am not going to even try to plant anything there. I will be looking for seedlings of eggplant variety called Fairy Tale… missed the “grow from seeds” window.
@abasket I’m in NW Oregon, where springtime can be wet and miserable with occasional 70 degree days. We are just finishing up a streak of mid-80 degree days which is forcing me to water the seedlings outside every morning. Seems a bit early for that!
We have tomatoes (roma, cherry, big boy and heirloom) which are looking good from seed. Also peas which are growing really well from seed. We are starting to harden them. Won’t plant until mother’s day. My favorite to plant are the mixed color carrots. A few peppers, beets, squash (I’d like to try spaghetti this year), zucchini, green onions, cucumbers. Pumpkin, we usually have at least one ready for Halloween.
We also have fruit trees. If we win the war with the squirrels, we have peach, apple, plum. Also a raspberry patch and a strawberry patch.
My BIL orders heirloom tomato seeds from a catalog and starts from seed. I didn’t know that you remove the skin and seeds for sauce but he does that when he makes sauce and blends to heirlooms. Says its the best sauce ever.
I mean, how does this thread and all it’s deliciousness not make you happy!!!
Yikes to the mice and rat problem - NOT OK!!!